The largest city per square mile in southern New Jersey, Vineland is also
known as the "Dandelion Capital of the World" and is the birthplace of both
Welch's Grape Juice, and the prolific Christian poet Annie Johnson Flint.
It was also chosen to be the place where an eccentric man named George Daynor
would build his "Palace of Depression" on a piece of former swamp land.
Image courtesy/Flickr
Daynor, who was said to have made and lost a fortune in Alaskan gold after
the Stock Market Crash in 1929, claimed that angels appeared to him in a
dream and inspired him to build a fantastic palace. He and his wife Florence
lived in an old car on the property while he constructed his "dream house"
primarily from stone, salvaged junk, and other oddities.
Features of the pastel-colored palace included 18 towering spires, a circular
shell-covered door, as well as the bizarrely named, "Knockout Room" where
Daynor would allegedly drop a bowling ball on a visitor's head in order
"to erase" their worst memories. This refuge of rubbish further included
special accommodations for none other than the legendary Jersey Devil!
Calling his finished masterpiece, "the greatest piece of originality ever brought
about in the history of Man" Daynor opened the palace for tours to the general
public on Christmas Day in 1932, originally charging 10 cents for admission.
Although considered a bit on the kooky side, the "Palace of Depression"
became a popular roadside tourist attraction for many years. Unfortunately,
George Daynor was a known publicity hound, which proved to be his undoing.
In 1956, he reported to the authorities that suspects involved in a baby
kidnapping case had visited the palace after they were described in the
news media. According to the website, Atlas Obscura, Daynor at one
point insinuated that he was actually the kidnapper. After the F.B.I.
became involved and discovered that his claims were false, Daynor
served time in prison for his outrageous publicity stunt.
George Daynor was reported to have been well over 100 years old when he died
penniless in a Bridgeton, New Jersey hospital in 1964. He was buried in the potter's
field at Oak Hill Cemetery in Vineland, with the city providing a headstone for his grave.
Not long after George Daynor's death, a mysterious fire destroyed the palace.
The city eventually bulldozed the ruins in 1969. However, in recent years, there
has been a renewed interest as well as an ongoing effort to restore this long-lost
relic in memory of it's enigmatic creator, and to preserve one man's unusual
legacy of thrift and ingenuity during the early years of the Great Depression.
The newly restored Palace of Depression is today located on privately
owned property at 265 S. Mill Rd. Vineland, New Jersey.
Continues In New Jersey
N.J.com
(March 25, 2022)
No comments:
Post a Comment